McG wrote:I just wish we could have got our hands on this guy 5 or 6 years ago. He is one of the most underrated, overlooked players in the NFL. I hope he plays 2 or 3 more years for us.

If it works out -- I can see us looking hard at drafting a suitable successor for that role. It really almost seems like the LEO of your back 7. Someone suited to play the new position of Weakside Cornerbacker.

It looks like he has the perfect skill set to mesh with our starting secondary. If he plays at the level he did last year, it's going to be scary to play us. Not just from a coverage perspective, but a blocking scheme perspective.

He fits the big nickle, base defenses and enables a very good bandit package for us. I'm stoked to see this season even more so than I was.

I'm excited about the idea of what the young guys can possibly learn from him. He is very unique in his skill set but a big part of that is mindset and focus. Hopefully he can influence the young guys some.

I see a lot of Offensive Coordinator's and Head Coaches losing a ton of sleep over the Hawks defense this season. Over the course of the past 2 seasons, this has been one of the league's youngest and toughest defenses. After the "surprise" (not to us) success the D had in 2011, teams adjusted to the Hawks D and while it was still a great unit, it had it's weaknesses. This offseason though, the Hawks have countered the league and gone all in on making their defense the most complete defense in the NFL. Nothing sums it up better than the addition of Winfield.

His versatility and ability to play the run/pass at a high level makes it a nightmare having to draw up a plan to defeat them. The Hawks now have the ability to be stout against the run even when they're in the Nickel, a rare ability. Keep in mind as the OC you probably know that it's going to be tough for your team's defense to stop the Hawks O, adding even more pressure to your job. What do you do? If Jesse Williams is legit then just rushing up the middle and trying to wear em out is even less of an option. I'm guessing we'll see a lot of teams trying to run left on us, away from Mebane, Red, and KJ. If Clem is on the PUP to start the season then probably even more so. Teams might try and attack the trio of Williams/Hill, Avril, and Malcolm Smith (or whoever wins the WLB job). Hell, you might even be more stout against the run with Winfield in instead of Smith at that point and just running the Nickel as the base defense. If he isn't a year too late like bestfightstory says, and that's my only legit concern with Winfield but it becomes negligible because he came to Seattle for such little dough/only one year. It's worth the gamble, if you can even call it that.

That's going to be something to look at during camp. Does Malcolm Smith (or Korey Toomer!, or others) elevate his game to the point where the team is more confident with him getting more snaps than Antoine Winfield. At this point, going off of last season and historically, I'd say I'm more confident with Winfield getting more snaps, but who knows what the two will look like when it comes time for camp. That's the thing with this squad and the beauty of how it's been constructed. I think I've heard the players use the word "Compete" and reference the phrase "Always Competing" this offseason more than I ever have before. Even the new guys that have been brought in were talking about it and still are on the Real Rob Report and in interviews. You just never know who might surprise and come in to camp and make 2013 his breakout campaign. It could be Malcolm Smith, Korey Toomer, Allen Bradford, or Mike Morgan, could be any one of them. It's gonna be fun to watch it all unfold.

"Rover" position sounds like the perfect role for Winfield's skill set. It's a hybrid linebacker/defensive back role. Actually, it seems like a fit for what Kam C does as well. Having two rover types may help the defense that much more. IIRC, the Seahaawks didn't give up much big plays last year. Evidenced as Atlanta's last scoring drive in divisional game. Most of the plays were in the 5-15 yard range. Having both Kam and Antoine plugging the middle along with LBs may help stopping those plays on consistently basis. 4-4-3 defense.

It's not the only one, either. I went from the Winfield article to the Russell Signature Throw article to the Malcolm Smith article. Major time suck.

49ers webzone: Win or lose, i hope you injure Sherman. Like a serious career ending injury. I don't want him to get paid.49ers webzone: noise should not be the overwhelming reason a team is favored. they need to spray noise-damping foam onto the ceiling of that place.

There is no place for other QBs to throw the ball this year...I am calling a record breaking year for sacks.I don't know if its Sinclair's 16.5 sacks or the team record, but the sacks will be there this year!

McG wrote:I just wish we could have got our hands on this guy 5 or 6 years ago. He is one of the most underrated, overlooked players in the NFL. I hope he plays 2 or 3 more years for us.

If it works out -- I can see us looking hard at drafting a suitable successor for that role. It really almost seems like the LEO of your back 7. Someone suited to play the new position of Weakside Cornerbacker.

That's why I was hoping we could pick up Jordan Poyer, he would have been a perfect Winfield type candidate.

Not as much as it would on 98% of the players in the NFL. Antoine ages well and his knowledge and experience keeps him at the top of his game. His addition will pay huge bonuses to players like Jeremy Lane and I hope like hell Tharold follows him around to learn some tackling technique.

Damn, that article took 2 days, 4 naps and a venti Americano to get through. Great stuff though. The amount of different looks we should be able to throw out with a guy like that in the mix will be mind boggling. Jeremy Lane should start apprenticing to Mr. Winfield right away. Lane has great physical skills and has similar talents attacking the run at the LOS (though significantly less refined) and could man that role for the Hawks for a generation if he plays his cards right.

Winfield could be to Lane what Milloy was to Kam. This is going to be a hella fun season to watch. So many story lines.

This poster officially refuses to recognize SacHawk2.0 as a moderator or authority figure of any description.